Immunology

Innate Immune Activation Behind Asthma Attacks from Common Cold – University of Michigan Health System News

While rhinoviruses, the culprit behind the so-called common cold, are generally harmless, for kids with asthma, colds often trigger asthma attacks. In fact, colds are the number one cause of asthma exacerbation in children and adults. Michigan Medicine researchers Marc Hershenson, M.D., division director of pediatric pulmonology at C.S. Mott Childrens hospital and Mingyuan Han, Ph.D. a postdoctoral fellow and their team are investigating why this is.

In a new paper in the journal Mucosal Immunology, they describe how the inflammasome, part of the immune response that turns on inflammation and other processes to fight pathogens like bacteria and viruses and other harmful substances, is activated by rhinoviruses in a mouse model. This activation sensitizes the airway in both normal mice and allergic mice. This finding points to the inflammasome as a possible target for treatment of cold-induced asthma attacks.

Paper cited:Inflammasome activation is required for human rhinovirus-induced airway inflammation in naive and allergen-sensitized mice, Mucosal Immunology. DOI: 10.1038/s41385-019-0172-2

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Innate Immune Activation Behind Asthma Attacks from Common Cold - University of Michigan Health System News

Immunology

Global Flow Cytometry Market Size is Projected to Reach USD 6.4 Billion by 2025 from USD 4.0 Billion in 2019, Growing at a CAGR of 8.3% -…

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Flow Cytometry Market by Technology (Cell-based, Bead-based), Product (Analyzer, Sorter, Reagents, Consumables, Software), End user (Academia, Research Labs, Hospitals, Clinical Laboratories, Pharma-Biotech Cos), Application - Global Forecasts to 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The key factors driving the growth of this market include technological advancements in flow cytometers, the increasing adoption of flow cytometry in research and clinical trials, growing focus on immunology and immuno-oncology research, increasing incorporation of AI platforms in flow cytometry workflows and advancements in flow cytometry software, high incidence and prevalence of target diseases, and the availability of novel products.

The bead-based technology segment is expected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period.

By technology, the flow cytometry market is classified into cell-based and bead-based. In 2019, the cell-based flow cytometry segment accounted for the largest share of the market. However, the bead-based flow cytometry segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growth of the bead-based flow cytometry segment can be attributed to the procedural advantages offered by this technology over other cell-based technology, such as the capacity to detect multiple analytes (also known as multiplexing), high reproducibility, stability, and speed.

The reagents and consumables segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during 2019-2025.

On the basis of product and service, the flow cytometry market is categorized into reagents and consumables, instruments, services, software, and accessories. The reagents and consumables segment is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period due to the development and commercialization of high-quality application-specific reagents and assays and continuous requirement of flow cytometry reagents by end-users (due to the increasing number of flow cytometry-based research activities).

The Asia Pacific to witness the highest growth during the forecast period (2019-2025)

North America is expected to hold the largest share of the global flow cytometry market in 2019 followed by Europe. However, the Asia Pacific is expected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period. The increasing participation of China, India, Japan, Australia, and South Korea in flow cytometry-based research; expansion of research infrastructure in the region; and public-private finding aimed towards boosting advance research practices are the key factors responsible for the growth of this market in the Asia Pacific.

Key Benefits of Buying the Report

This report focuses on various levels of analysis-industry trends, market shares of top players, and company profiles, which together form basic views and analyze the competitive landscape, emerging segments of the flow cytometry market, and high-growth regions and their drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities. The report will help both established firms as well as new entrants/smaller firms to gauge the pulse of the market and garner greater market shares.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

1.1 Objectives of the Study

1.2 Market Definition

1.3 Study Scope

1.4 Currency Used for the Study

1.5 Stakeholders

2 Research Methodology

2.1 Research Data

2.2 Market Estimation Methodology

2.3 Data Triangulation Methodology

2.4 Research Assumptions

2.5 Research Limitations

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights

4.1 Flow Cytometry: Market Overview

4.2 Flow Cytometry Products & Services Market, 2019 vs. 2025

4.3 Market, By Application, 2019 vs. 2025

4.4 Market, By End User, 2019 vs. 2025

4.5 Geographical Snapshot of the Market

5 Market Overview

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.2.1 Drivers

5.2.2 Restraints

5.2.3 Opportunities

5.2.4 Challenges

5.3 Regulatory Challenges

5.4 US Reimbursement Scenario

6 Flow Cytometry Market, By Technology

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Cell-Based Flow Cytometry

6.3 Bead-Based Flow Cytometry

7 Flow Cytometry Market, By Product & Service

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Reagents & Consumables

7.3 Flow Cytometry Instruments

7.4 Services

7.5 Software

7.6 Accessories

8 Flow Cytometry Market, By Application

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Research Applications

8.3 Clinical Applications

8.4 Industrial Applications

9 Flow Cytometry Market, By End User

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Academic & Research Institutes

9.3 Hospitals & Clinical Testing Laboratories

9.4 Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies

10 Flow Cytometry Market, By Region

10.1 Introduction

10.2 North America

10.3 Europe

10.4 Asia Pacific

10.5 Latin America

10.6 Middle East and Africa

11 Competitive Landscape

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Competitive Leadership Mapping

11.3 Competitive Leadership Mapping: Major Market Players (2018)

11.4 Competitive Leadership Mapping: Emerging Companies/SMEs/Start-Ups (2018)

11.5 Competitive Scenario (2016-2019)

11.6 Global Market Share Analysis, Top Three Market Players (2018)

12 Company Profiles

12.1 Becton, Dickinson and Company

12.2 Beckman Coulter

12.3 Thermo Fisher Scientific

12.4 Merck KGaA

12.5 Luminex Corporation

12.6 Agilent Technologies

12.7 Sony Biotechnology

12.8 Bio-Rad Laboratories

12.9 Miltenyi Biotec

12.10 Enzo Life Sciences, Inc.

12.11 Sysmex Partec

12.12 Biomrieux SA

12.13 Cytonome/St, LLC

12.14 Stratedigm, Inc.

12.15 Apogee Flow Systems

12.16 Cytek Biosciences, Inc.

12.17 Other Companies

12.17.1 Sartorius AG

12.17.2 Union Biometrica, Inc.

12.17.3 Nanocellect Biomedical, Inc.

12.17.4 On-Chip Biotechnologies Co., Ltd.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/8ln964

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Global Flow Cytometry Market Size is Projected to Reach USD 6.4 Billion by 2025 from USD 4.0 Billion in 2019, Growing at a CAGR of 8.3% -...

Immunology

Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs Market 2019 Industry Outline, Global Executive Players, Interpretation and Benefit Growth to 2025 – Jewish Life…

The research study provided by UpMarketResearch on Global Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs Industry offers strategic assessment of the Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs market. The industry report focuses on the growth opportunities, which will help the market to expand operations in the existing markets.Next, in this report, you will find the competitive scenario of the major market players focusing on their sales revenue, customer demands, company profile, import/export scenario, business strategies that will help the emerging market segments in making major business decisions. The Global Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs Market contains the ability to become one of the most lucrative industries as factors related to this market such as raw material affluence, financial stability, technological development, trading policies, and increasing demand are boosting the market growth. Therefore, the market is expected to see higher growth in the near future and greater CAGR during the forecast period from 2019 to 2026.

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Major Players included in this report are as follows Janssen Biotech Inc.Bristol-Myers Squibb CompanyAbbVie Inc.UCBCaresAMGENCelltrion HealthcareBiogenGenentech USA Inc.ROCHEPfizer Inc.

Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs Market can be segmented into Product Types as AdalimumabCertolizumab PegolTofacitinibEtanerceptGolimumabAbataceptInfliximabOthers

Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs Market can be segmented into Applications as Rheumatoid ArthritisCrohns Disease(CD)Ankylosing Spondylitis(AS)Psoriasis(Ps)Ulcerative Colitis(UC)

Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs Market: Regional analysis includes:Asia-Pacific (Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia)Europe (Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.)North America (United States, Mexico, and Canada.)South America (Brazil etc.)The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries and Egypt.)

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About UpMarketResearch:Up Market Research (https://www.upmarketresearch.com) is a leading distributor of market research report with more than 800+ global clients. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.

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Ulcerative Colitis Immunology Drugs Market 2019 Industry Outline, Global Executive Players, Interpretation and Benefit Growth to 2025 - Jewish Life...

Neuroscience

Dr. John Ngai named director of NIH BRAIN Initiative – National Institutes of Health

News Release

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., announced today the selection of John J. Ngai, Ph.D., as director of the NIHs Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. Dr. Ngai is expected to join NIH in March.

The BRAIN Initiative aims to revolutionize our understanding of the brain and brain disorders, said Dr. Collins. We welcome Dr. Ngais leadership in steering this groundbreaking 21st century project.

The NIH BRAIN Initiative is a large-scale effort to accelerate neuroscience. Since it was launched in 2013, the initiative has funded hundreds of research projects that have led to several breakthroughs, including the creation of a self-tuning brain implant that could help treat Parkinsons disease patients, the development of a computer program that can mimic natural speech from peoples brain signals and the construction of a brain cell inventory. BRAIN funded researchers have also shown the ability to make high-speed, high-resolution, 3D films of a nervous system in action.

Recent technological and scientific advances are transforming our understanding of the brain, said Dr. Ngai, who is currently the Coates Family Professor of Neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley. I am deeply inspired by these advances and look forward to my new role in enabling BRAIN Initiative investigators to unlock the secrets of the brain and lay new foundations for treating human brain disorders.

Dr. Ngai will oversee the long-term strategy and day-to-day operations of the initiative as it takes on the challenges of the next five year plan, just announced a few months ago. Congress has enthusiastically supported BRAIN through the appropriations process and the 21st Century Cures Act.

Dr. Ngais appointment marks a new chapter in the BRAIN Initiative, said Walter J. Koroshetz, M.D., director of NIHs National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. He will provide the initiative the clear vision the project needs to navigate through this critical period.

Dr. Ngai earned his bachelors degree in chemistry and biology from Pomona College, Claremont, California, and Ph.D. in biology from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena. He was a postdoctoral researcher at Caltech and at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons before starting his faculty position at the University of California at Berkeley.

During more than 25 years as a Berkeley faculty member, Dr. Ngai has trained 20 undergraduate students, 24 graduate students and 15 postdoctoral fellows in addition to teaching well over 1,000 students in the classroom. His lab uses a wide array of tools and techniques to study the cells and molecules behind olfaction, or the sense of smell, including fundamental research on how the nervous system detects odors and turns them into neural signals sent to the brain. Dr. Ngai is also interested in unraveling the diversity of cell types in the brain and understanding how the nervous system repairs itself following injury or degeneration. His work has led to the publication of more than 70 scientific articles in some of the fields most prestigious journals and 10 U.S. and international patents. Dr. Ngai has received many awards including from the Sloan Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, and McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience.

As a faculty member, Dr. Ngai has served as the director of Berkeleys Neuroscience Graduate Program and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. He has also provided extensive service on NIH study sections, councils and steering groups, including as previous co-chair of the NIH BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Consortium Steering Group.

Dr. Ngai has the diverse skills and experience that are needed to build on the early successes of the BRAIN Initiative, said Joshua A. Gordon, M.D., Ph.D., director of NIHs National Institute of Mental Health. We are tremendously grateful that we were able to recruit him for such an important leadership position.

The NIH BRAIN Initiative is managed by 10 institutes whose missions and current research portfolios complement the goals of the BRAIN Initiative: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, National Eye Institute, National Institute on Aging, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health, and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

NIHTurning Discovery Into Health

###

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Dr. John Ngai named director of NIH BRAIN Initiative - National Institutes of Health

Neuroscience

"Mini Brains" Are Not like the Real Thing – Scientific American

The idea of scientists trying to grow brain tissue in a dish conjures up all sorts of scary mental pictures (cue the horror-movie music). But the reality of the research is quite far from that sci-fi visionand always will be, say researchers in the field. In fact, a leader in this area of research, Arnold Kriegstein of the University of California, San Francisco, says the reality does not measure up to what some scientists make it out to be.

In a paper published on January 29 in Nature, Kriegstein and his colleagues identified which genes were active in 235,000 cells extracted from 37 different organoids and compared them with 189,000 cells from normally developing brains. The organoidsat times called mini brains, to the chagrin of some scientistsare not a fully accurate representation of normal developmental processes, according to the study.

Brain organoids are made from stem cells that are transformed from one cell type to the another until they end up as neurons or other mature cells. But according to the Nature paper, they do not always fully complete this developmental process. Instead the organoids tend to end up with cells that have not fully transformed into new cell typesand they do not re-create the normal brains organizational structure. Psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditionsincluding schizophrenia and autism, respectivelyand neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers are generally specific to particular cell types and circuits.

Many of the organoid cells showed signs of metabolic stress, the study demonstrated. When the team transplanted organoid cells into mice, their identity became crisper, and they acted more like normal cells, Kriegstein says. This result suggests that the culture conditions under which such cells are grown does not match those of a normally developing brain, he adds. Cellular stress is reversible, Kriegstein says. If we can reverse it, were likely to see the identity of cells improve significantly at the same time.

Brain organoids are getting better at recapitulating the activities of small clusters of neurons, says Kriegstein, who is a professor of neurology and director of the Eli & Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at U.C.S.F. Scientists often make organoids from the cells of people with different medical conditions to better understand those conditions. But some scientists may have gone too far in making claims about insights they have derived from patient-specific brain organoids. Id be cautious about that, Kriegstein says. Some of those changes might reflect the abnormal gene expression of the cells and not actually reflect a true disease feature. So thats a problem for scientists to address.

A small ball of cells grown in a dish may be able to re-create some aspects of parts of the brain, but it is not intended to represent the entire brain and its complexity, several researchers have asserted. These organoids are no more sentient than brain tissue removed from a patient during an operation, one scientist has said.

Of course, models are never perfect. Although animal models have led to fundamental insights into brain development, researchers have sought out organoids, or organs-in-a-dish, precisely because of the limitations of extrapolating biological insights from another species to humans. Alzheimers has been cured hundreds of times in mice but never in us, for instance.

That said, the current models are already very useful in addressing some fundamental questions in human brain development, says Hongjun Song, a professor of neuroscience at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved in the new research. Using brain organoids, he adds, the Zika virus was recently shown to attack neural stem cells, causing a response that could explain why some babies exposed to Zika in utero develop unusually small brains.

Michael Nestor, a stem cell expert, who did not participate in the new study, says his own organoids are very helpful for identifying unusual activity in brain cells grown from people with autism. And he notes that they will eventually be useful for screening potential drugs.

Even though the models will always be a simplification, the organoid work remains crucial, says PaolaArlotta, chair of the department of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard University, who was also not involved in the Nature study. Neuropsychiatric pathologies and neurodevelopmental conditions are generally the result of a large number of genetic changes, which are too complex to be modeled in rodents, she says.

Sergiu Pasca, another leader in the field, says that the cellular stress encountered by Kriegstein and his team might actually be useful in some conditions, helping to create in a dish the kinds of conditions that lead to diseases of neurodegeneration, for instance. What I considerthe most exciting feature remains our ability to derive neural cells and glial cells in vitro, understanding their intrinsic program of maturation in a dish, says Pasca, an assistant professor at Stanford University, who was not part of the new paper.

The ability to improve cell quality when exposed to the environment of the mouse brain suggests that it may be possible to overcome some of the current limitations, Arlotta says. There is not yet a single protocol for making brain organoids in a lab, which may be for the best at this early stage of the field. Eventually, she says, scientists will optimize and standardize the conditions in which these cells are grown.

Arlotta, who is also the Golub Family Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard, published a study last year in Nature showing that she and her colleagues canover a six-month periodmake organoids capable of reliablyincluding a diversity of cell types that are appropriate for the human cerebral cortex. She says it is crucial for organoid work to be done within an ethical framework. Arlotta is part of a federally funded team of bioethicists and scientists working together to ensure that such studies proceed ethically. The scientists educate the bioethicists on the state of the research, she says, and the ethicists inform the scientists about the implications of their work.

Nestor feels so strongly about the importance of linking science, policy and public awareness around stem cell research that he has put his own laboratory at the Hussman Institute for Autism on hold to accept a year-long science-and-technology-policyfellowship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He says he took the post to make sure the public and policy makers understand what they need to know about organoids and other cutting-edge science and to learn how to communicate about science with them.

One thing all of the scientists interviewed for this article agree on is that these brain organoids are not actual mini brains, and no one is trying to build a brain in a dish. Even as researchers learn to make more cell types and grow them in more realistic conditions, they will never be able to replicate the brains structure and complexity, Kriegstein says. The exquisite organization of a normal brain is critical to its function, he adds. Brains are still the most complicated structure that nature has ever created.

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"Mini Brains" Are Not like the Real Thing - Scientific American

Neuroscience

Lab-Grown ‘Minibrains’ Are An Imperfect Model Of The Human Brain : Shots – Health News – NPR

Scientists say pea-size organoids of human brain tissue may offer a way to study the biological beginnings of a wide range of brain conditions, including autism, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Muotri Lab/UCSD hide caption

Scientists say pea-size organoids of human brain tissue may offer a way to study the biological beginnings of a wide range of brain conditions, including autism, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Brain organoids, often called "minibrains," have changed the way scientists study human brain development and disorders like autism.

But the cells in these organoids differ from those in an actual brain in some important ways, scientists reported Wednesday in the journal Nature.

The finding suggests that scientists need to be cautious about extrapolating results found in organoids to people, says Dr. Arnold Kriegstein, a professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco.

"It's far too early to start using organoids as examples of normal brain development because we just don't know how well they really represent what's going on in utero," Kriegstein says.

But Dr. Guo-Li Ming, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania who is not connected to the study, says she is "not concerned too much" by the finding.

"If we are careful enough we can still learn from brain organoids," says Ming, who used the approach to help understand how Zika virus could affect the brains of babies in the womb.

Brain organoids are clusters of lab-grown brain cells that assemble themselves into structures that look a lot like human brain tissue. The process by which these cells become specialized and begin to communicate resembles the development of a human brain in the months before birth.

But Kriegstein's lab wondered just how accurate the model was.

"We wanted to see whether the organoids that we and others have been using to model normal brain development as well as disease actually represented the cell types faithfully," he says

So Kriegstein's team took a close look at 200,000 cells from organoids that mimic the brain's outer layer, the cortex. They used genetic tests to classify the cell types and then compared them with a database of cell types found in actual brain tissue.

"We were surprised to see that there were some dramatic differences that hadn't been reported before," Kriegstein says.

The organoids included the major cell types found in cortex. But the organoid cells were just a little off, says Aparna Bhaduri, a postdoctoral scholar in Kriegstein's lab.

"In the normal brain you have very clear and precise different types of cells," she says. "What we're seeing in the organoid is more of a confused identity."

The cells looked immature. It was as if they hadn't quite decided what kind of cells to be when they grew up.

The organoid cells also showed signs of metabolic stress, Bhaduri says, meaning they looked like cells that had been undernourished.

"Something about the artificial nature of the media or the conditions they're being grown in is actually resulting in this stress," says Madeline Andrews, another postdoc in Kriegstein's lab.

Two experiments backed that idea.

When the team transplanted normal brain cells into a growing organoid, those cells became stressed and "this confused identity begins to arise," Andrews says.

And when the team took cells from an organoid and transplanted them into a mouse brain, the stress and identity problems went away.

"It tells us that you can take away the stress from these cells, that they're not permanently stressed," Bhaduri says.

Ming's lab has also detected stress in organoid cells. But she's not convinced that stress is the reason organoid cells remain immature and fail to acquire clear identities. "That hasn't been established," she says.

Even so, Ming's lab is looking for ways to protect organoid cells from stress, and make them more like actual brain tissue.

Using "brain organoids is the best approach for allowing us to at least understand what's happening" to a human brain before birth, she says.

The new study doesn't invalidate current research using brain organoids, Kriegstein says. Instead it offers a roadmap to improve the model so that researchers can learn more about diseases and disorders including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, autism, and schizophrenia.

"If you're going to model those diseases in a dish, you really want to make sure you're reproducing the same cells with the same cell type identities that they would normally have," Kriegstein says.

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Lab-Grown 'Minibrains' Are An Imperfect Model Of The Human Brain : Shots - Health News - NPR

Neuroscience

We need to radically rethink our approach to Alzheimer’s research – Wired.co.uk

Over the past decade weve seen failure after failure in clinical trials for neurodegenerative disease. Despite over 200 clinical trials, we still dont have any meaningful therapeutics for Alzheimers and the only options for diseases like Motor Neurone Disease (MND) barely extend life by a few months.

Clinical research in this field has been stuck in a rut for several years, with the vast majority of trials focused on a single, unproven hypothesis. A unifying feature of neurodegeneration is the accumulation of sticky protein deposits within the brain, such as alpha-synuclein in Parkinsons or amyloid-beta and tau in Alzheimers. Pharma companies have spent many years and billions of dollars attempting to reduce the quantity of these protein deposits, banking on the assumption that this will protect brain cells and reduce cognitive decline.

The net results of these efforts is a huge amount of frustration and a shaken belief in this core assumption. Whether protein deposits are mopped up by antibodies, or inhibited from forming in the first place, neuronal survival and cognitive decline stubbornly refuse to budge. This has led some pharma companies, such as Pfizer, to lose heart altogether and pull out of the neuroscience field. Others plough on with protein-clearance strategies, wedded to cell and animal models which over-express proteins such as amyloid that are far-removed from clinical reality.

Progress in this field depends upon finding new therapeutic targets with a more solid scientific rationale and in 2020, we will see some exciting breakthroughs. One area where progress is being made is by studying inflammation within the brain. Moderate neuroinflammation, which clears away debris and fights infection, is a protective response by our brains to an acute problem, such as an injury. However, in diseases such as Alzheimers, the damage to cells is chronic and takes place over several years. This results in a persistent and aggravated form of neuroinflammation that kills brain cells, triggering further inflammatory responses and speeding the decline of cognitive function.

There are many anti-inflammatory compounds available within pharma companies portfolios that have proven safety records in patients and could be used to treat neurodegeneration. However, initial results from trials of these compounds have been unpromising, as scientists and clinicians have unsuccessfully walked the tightrope between maintaining the beneficial effects of acute short-term inflammation while making any anti-inflammatory effect strong enough to deal with detrimental chronic effects. A more nuanced and adaptable approach is needed, and clues may be found in the latest wave of cancer therapies to hit the market.

It has been known for many years that immune function is a critical factor in cancer survival, with many immuno-modulatory therapies recently entering the clinic. The latest developments in this field are cell therapies where a patient's own immune cells are genetically modified, supercharging their ability to recognise and kill tumours. The first wave of cell therapies have already hit the market, with therapies such as Kymriah from Novartis saving the lives of patients with chemotherapy-resistant cancer.

While it has been the highly potent killer activity of a subset of immune cells that has created breakthroughs in cancer, it is harnessing the opposite side of the system, the ability to selectively calm inflammation and destruction, that is now showing considerable promise in neurodegeneration. Selectively editing and controlling this side of the immune response has the potential to significantly reduce chronic and inappropriate neuroinflammation, potentially providing a potent new therapy. In 2020, well very likely see the first early pre-clinical demonstrations ushering in a new era that offers hope to millions of patients across an increasingly ageing population.

Mark Hammond is a director at Deep Science Ventures. Tim Newton is CEO of Reflection Therapeutics

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We need to radically rethink our approach to Alzheimer's research - Wired.co.uk

Neuroscience

Psychology: A pathway leading to diverse career prospects – Study International News

Psychology is a multi-faceted subject that leads to an array of diverse career roles.

For instance, a psychology graduate could become a clinical psychologist that focuses on the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness or a market researcher that collects and analyses data to present to clients.

With potential opportunities like those and more, psychologys dynamic nature is what links learners to promising career prospects.

With their research-oriented outlook, critical thinking abilities and strong problem-solving skills, its no surprise that psychology degree holders are highly sought after.

This may be the reason why the overall employment of psychologists in the US is projected to grow 14 percent from 2018 to 2028, according to the US Bureau of Labour Statisti(BLS).

Employment of clinical, counselling and school psychologists is projected to grow because of greater demand for psychological services in schools, hospitals, mental health centres, and social service agencies, BLSs Occupational Outlook Handbook said.

Demand for clinical and counselling psychologists will increase as people continue to turn to psychologists for help with their problems. Psychologists also will be needed to provide services to an ageing population, helping people deal with the mental and physical changes that happen as they grow older.

And in the UK, a recent survey revealed that the country is facing a shortage of mental health professionals. The British Medical Associations analysis of workforce figures and survey of more than 1,000 doctors, psychologists and mental-health nurses, was carried out together with the Royal College of Nursing and the Association of Clinical Psychologists UK.

Almost seven out of 10 respondents work in teams with vital members of staff missing most or all of the time. Nearly half (47 per cent) of doctors work shifts in which they are down at least one medical colleague, the survey found.

Source: University of Plymouth

In response to the study, Royal College of Nursing Professional Lead for Mental Health Catherine Gamble said: The clear majority of nursing staff felt the absence of one of their own on their last shifts. This hammers home the reality of the chronic workforce shortages that have plagued our profession.

Unless there is urgent investment in growing the nursing workforce the pressures will continue to grow to the point where it will no longer be possible to attract nurses to work in the NHS, and parity of esteem for physical and mental health remains a goal yet to be realised.

With such high demand in this field, psychology graduates today are set for a wealth of opportunities ahead.

Here are four UK universities to kickstart a bright future in this field

SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH

The School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth is dedicated to developing the next generation of psychologists, from education and health to business and the media. Students benefit from research-informed teaching and active, real-world learning from a university in the top 20 for research in psychology, neuroscience and psychiatry. With accreditation by the British Psychological Society, undergraduates are equipped to address todays most challenging psychological issues, with further specialization offered from a range of exciting postgraduate courses such as clinical psychology and human neuroscience.

A hands-on approach to learning ensures that practical activities are embedded throughout the courses, with access to the on-site Psychology Experiential Learning lab (PsychE). An optional placement year also allows undergraduates to acquire professional training in the institution of their choice: healthcare, education, business, judicial system, etc. This allows students to put their new knowledge into practice, build practical skills relevant to their future careers and benefit from world-class research labs such as Babylab and the Brain Research & Imaging Centre (BRIC).

All these make for graduate success at the School nearly nine in ten graduates are employed or in further studies six months after graduation.

With a safe campus located in an idyllic waterfront city, international students can explore the British seaside and its maritime heritage.

SCHOOL OF SPORT, EXERCISE AND HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF LOUGHBOROUGH

The BSc (Hons) Psychology degree at the University of Loughborough offers learners the knowledge, skills and competencies that are prized by employers, such as critical thinking and research abilities.

Their undergraduate psychology course is taught by internationally-respected academics and accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS).

This course covers a full range of modules which aim to build students core knowledge and skills, allowing them to tailor their degree to their interests and aspirations.

Student are encouraged to undertake an optional year-long work placement or study abroad opportunity. A year in placement or a year abroad will allow them to gain an additional award alongside their final qualification.

University of Loughborough students go on to pursue a variety of career paths in different sectors, such as management, human resources, education, social work, financial services and research.

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX

Challenging existing conventions, the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex focuses on three distinct areas of concentration: thinking about the world, interacting with the world, and experiencing the world.

As the Head of Psychology Department Professor Paul Hibbard said: Psychologys ideas and concepts are part of our everyday culture, yet many underestimate how influential as a science our discipline can be. Our aim is to highlight how our research findings concern every one of us and how psychology affects us as groups as well as individuals.

Therefore, to dig deeper into psychology, the department has created a stimulating and vibrant research environment and promotes undergraduate and postgraduate courses that have been accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS).

So if you want to use state-of-the-art facilities and learn alongside world-renown experts in the field, you too can pursue your intellectual passion in Essex.

SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY, PSYCHOLOGY AND LANGUAGE SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

With notable psychology professors, such as Dr Aja Murray who was recently awarded the British Academy/Wolfson Fellowship, studying here is to study under the guidance of experts.

At the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, undergraduate psychology students are introduced to a flexible programme structure that provides core courses alongside optional courses in areas such as cognitive neuroscience, language, vision and intelligence. There is also an option to enrol in a four-year degree programme.

Without the need to commit to a long-term degree, the four-year style grants students more time to grow intellectually and academically. The extra years lets students develop their confidence and sharpen their essay writing skills.

Plus, with more than 200 study abroad arrangements with universities in Europe, Asia, North America, and South America, psychology students here can explore different modules and gain experience overseas.

*Some of the institutions featured in this article may be commercial partners of Study International

Modern psychology programmes motivate career success

Explore the many facets of psychology at the University of Central Lancashire

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Psychology: A pathway leading to diverse career prospects - Study International News

Physiology

Increasing numbers of people are in pain. How do we cope? – Big Think

Pain is one of the most confusing aspects of human physiology. From an evolutionary perspective, pain is either a signal that something is wrong (broken bone; stomachache) or a cautionary tale informing us to not repeat an activity (touching a hot stove). Pain often resolves when the noxious stimulus is removedthe form of pain related to tissue damage. Then we enter the world of emotional pain, which itself is intimately related to physical pain.

Let's begin with the physical. You stub your toe, immediately sending a signal up your spinal cord to your frontal anterior cingular cortex (ACC), which assess the meaning of this pain. The ACC plays an important role in error detection, noting the distance between what you expected (you were walking to the bathroom) and what occurred (your foot caught the edge of your bed frame because you were staring at your phone). Tissue damage has indeed occurred. It hurts.

An interesting study placed subjects in a brain scanner tossing a ball with two other (virtual) people. After a while, those players decide to stop throwing to you. You've been outcast and the rejection stings. Your ACC activates. As Robert Sapolsky writes, "as far those neurons in the ACC are concerned, social and literal pain are the same."

The ACC activates when you get an electric shock. Incredibly, if you watch a friend get shocked, the same region fires. We call this empathy, the ability to perceive what another is feeling, yet this goes a step further: you actually feel their pain. Sapolsky notes that both dread and depression can be physically felt. Research has shown that ibuprofen alleviates emotional pain as well (in women, at least).

Pain management is one of the hardest aspects of medicine. Diagnosing disease from the perspective of pain alone is challenging. When I broke my femur the emergency room doctor knew exactly what had happened. Yet how many different ailments begin with a stomachache or a headache?

Then there's our relationship to pain. We live in the most comfortable age in the history of our species. We're also under the illusion that a pill can dissolve pain, be it physical or emotional, by blocking neurotransmission of specific chemicals. Pain alleviation is a great feature of modern medicine, yet when you create a society expectant of constant relief you cheat its citizens from important lessons about the nature of physiology. Many of our pain relief efforts, from antidepressants to aspirin, are driven by profit maximization, not compassion.

While a number of techniques for alleviating pain exist, without an honest and open discussion about the nature of pain people find their own methods. A new study published in the journal Emotion has found that the intentional onset of physical pain (cutting, for example) helps people deal with emotional distress. It also clues us in to the conceptual world of pain.

Ashley Doukas at NYU Langone Health conducted this research after she studied body-based coping mechanisms such as deep breathing and smiling. The clinical instructor says,

"I became interested in the topic of pain because a great deal of the literature on non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) indicates that one reason people engage in self-injurious behavior is to regulate extreme emotional states."

Doukas noticed that even healthy controls felt better emotionally after experiencing physical pain. It's hard for your brain to focus on two forms of pain simultaneously. On top of this is hormesis, an internal form of vaccination: a little bit of a toxin makes you stronger. In exercise studies, this is similar to purposefully tearing your muscles after lifting weights, a process that ultimately makes them stronger. The neurological reaction runs parallel: while you struggle with increasing loads during workouts, you feel better for hours after (if not a bit sore).

Nick Kyrgios of Australia feels the pain during his fourth round match against Rafael Nadal of Spain on day eight of the 2020 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 27, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia.

Photo by James D. Morgan/Getty Images

For the study, Doukas and team recruited 60 test subjects to look at upsetting images. They were then provided with four methods of coping, two cognitive and two physical. The cognitive methods were distracting yourself with another thought or mentally changing the meaning of the image. As for physical means, subjects could self-administer an electric shock, either painful or painless.

Over the course of 16 trials, two-thirds (67.5 percent) of volunteers self-administered at least one painful electric shock. The average was two per person, with 13 being at the high end. Doukas hopes that this information helps to de-stigmatize those who purposefully engage in painful behavior to deal with emotional duress.

"While of course we do not want people to put themselves at risk for infection or accidental death, the fact is that human beings use pain to manage their emotions all the time think of an intense massage to relax, and putting extra hot sauce on tacos to make them more intense and enjoyable. While the injurious aspect of NSSI can be alarming to many, the infliction of pain on oneself may not be inherently pathological, and may actually be making good use of some basic biological responses to pain, such as endorphins."

We often discuss the brain-body connection as if they're separate domains. We can actually witness the workings of that connection in the form of our nervous system. Everyone recognizes that injury can lead to depression while heartache can result in the manifestation of physical disease. If cutting seems a strange choice for dealing with stress or anxiety, remember that for roughly 2,000 years bloodletting was the go-to by doctors for a variety of ailments.

This is not a call for sanctioned cutting. We know that in most cases draining blood from your body is the opposite of healing. Yet we're also aware that the distance between physical and emotional pain is not far. Creating a holistic pain management paradigm moving forward would be in our best interests. While some region-specific remedies are important, epidemics such as with opioids, depression, and obesity show that we are not managing pain well.

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Stay in touch with Derek on Twitter and Facebook. His next book is Hero's Dose: The Case For Psychedelics in Ritual and Therapy.

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Increasing numbers of people are in pain. How do we cope? - Big Think